Obesity and poverty...
Replies
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i am sorry to say and I will probably get bashed for what I am about to say.. but as a mother NOTHING would come in the way of feeding my kids. What responsible mother would allow her kids to eat 1 free provided meal? I would wear rags from the thrift shop and sell my body if that is the only way i could feed my kids. I would go without a phone or tv to feed my kids. There is Nothing more important than providing for your children.Obesity is a matter of too many calories and not enough exercise. Poverty is not going to cause that. Yes, there is a correlation between poverty and obesity in some countries, but that doesn't equal causation.
I'd put my money on a lack of self control (which all children naturally have), combined with parents who either don't care, or who lack the ability to say "no" to their children, along with the parents modeling poor eating behavior.
I'm sorry, but do you know how elitist this sounds? I do a lot of advocacy work with the poor in my community particularly around food security for families. We live in a middle class neighbourhood on the edge of an impoverished area and I was shocked to find out that most of the kids my son goes to school work don't get any meals other than the ones provided by the breakfast program. It's not a lack of care from their parents, it's a complete and total lack of resources. A lot of people are also too ashamed to ask for help because they face discrimination and shaming, as so eloquently modeled in your post above.
If It means i need to go to the library and read a book on how to cook bulk dried beans than that is what it means.
Not knowing how to cook is not an excuse not to feed your kids
Not having access to healthy food is not an excuse not to plant some seeds in an old bucket on your porch
Not having time is no reason, you can get a used crock pot at the thrift shop and prepare meals in 3 minutes in the morning
There is always a way, and there is usually a program.
I probably sound like an elitist to you too, but I was on govt assistance when I was a young mother and I know first hand that when there is a will, there is a way. There is no excuse to neglect your children ever.
This brought tears to my eyes. Yes I agree. Nothing should stop a mother from feeding her child. When my dad left us I was 6. My mother worked in retail. He paid child support but in the early 70's it wasn't much. My mom needed to supplement her retail job with food stamps. All she wanted was help. She was denied. They told her to quit her job. She did not want to be completely dependent on the gov't so she refused. I heard her crying about how she didn't know how she was gonna make it. Finally in desperation she went to the local grocery store and got food on credit. It was the most humbling/humiliating thing she ever had to do. (she told me this years later). . But she had no other choice. For years I would take money down to that man, not knowing what I was paying for. It took her years to pay it all off. So please don't say mothers have no choice. I would sell my body to feed my kids. My mother went through hell to survive because that is what mothers do!!!!
What a beautiful story and a strong mother! You are blessed!!
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A gallon of milk in Hawaii is roughly 7 dollars, a 2 liter of Pepsi is 2. Minimum wage is 7.25 or 7.50. If you can honestly say you'd blow an entire hour of work on milk for a week or two I'm going to call you crazy.
Taking it a step further, a cheap one bedroom is 1350 a month. A bag of frozen chicken breast is 15 dollars, ground meat is 3.99 a pound (80/20), a pound of bananas is 1.95. If you live in Kopali the nearest "real" grocery store is a twenty minute drive if there's no traffic, 40 at rush hour, so you'll probably shop at Longs, Hawaii's version of CVS a lot of the time, especially if you don't have your own car, which many don't because cars are more expensive here because they are shipped in. The farmers market is on the nice part of the island, which would be about two hours on the bus from Kopali.
Now, I'm not poor and I shop at the commissary which is price controlled and live on base, so the above isn't my life but it's the life of about half the local families I know. I work at a school and a lot of the local children are on the large side, but I wouldn't dismiss their mothers as lazy or stupid. Some of them work two jobs just to make rent but manage to attend every parent teacher night anyway. They'd like to put their kids in activities but can't cover uniform fees or arrange transportation.
Frankly it's easy to dismiss those who live in poverty and turn up our noses, but you don't know their lives or circumstances.0 -
"Maybe she is disabled. ?" - A- then she is eligible for disability - they said income assistance, how do you know it isn't disability?I recently went to a talk about food security. Basically, it talked about the ability of people living at or below the poverty level, and their ability to feed themselves and their families. Basically what it came down to is this: if a single mother with two kids is on income assistance, she receives $1124 a month.
Now by my calculations:
Monthly income: $1124
Rent: $ 700
Basic telephone/cable: $ 65
Electricity: $ 40
Bus passes $ 122
So that leaves Mom with $197 a month to feed herself and her two kids. That's $49.25 a week, or $7.04 a day.
Where I live, 4 liters of milk costs $7.49. A 2 liter of pop is $1.49. A loaf of bread costs $2.29. A box of Kraft dinner is $1.09.
In this lecture, they talked about the "basic food basket" which is the food that one would need to buy to follow Canada's food guide for healthy eating. The cost in our community to meet those basic requirements was over $80/week for this hypothetical mother and her two kids.
If a parent is trying to feed herself and her kids on less than $50 a week, of course they are going to eat a lot of boxed meals.
Another issue addressed was the fact that in the cycle of poverty, a lot of times parents just don't know or have the skills to prepare healthful meals, so even though you might be able to cook a healthy stew for $15 that would feed them for three days, Mom might not have the skills or the tools available.
So my point, after this rather long post, is that I do agree, poverty certainly plays a role.
Why isn't this mom getting a job, instead?
It's amazing that everyone thinks its just so easy.
Maybe she is disabled.
Maybe she has a child that is disabled and cannot afford full time care.
Maybe she is unemployed temporarily.
Maybe her husband just died and she was a stay at home mom.
Maybe her husband left her.
Maybe her husband was abusive and she decided to leave him.
Maybe this amount includes her full time job and income assistance?
What the hell difference does it make?
"Maybe she has a child that is disabled and cannot afford full time care. " -A - My sister i low income with a disabled child and she cannot afford full time care, there are programs to assist families in that - they still would be considered poverty level. Maybe she is unemployed temporarily.- *key word.. temporarily. - How do you know this mother isn't in a temporary situation?
"Maybe her husband just died and she was a stay at home mom" - I have a friend who was in that situation a well, and she receiving additional aid, and I don't even believe it was social security because he was not a legal resident of the country. - Do you know how much Social Security survivor benefits pay? Not much!
"Maybe her husband left her"- A- Who says you need a husband to be successful? I don't think the woman activists would appreciate that comment. I didn't say she needed a husband to be successful, Maybe she was a stay at home mom and he recently left and she si trying to get back on her feet.
"Maybe her husband was abusive and she decided to leave him." - The same sister who has a disabled child also left an abusive x , she went to the woman's shelter .. they exist to get abused women on their feet. And usually its through income assistance programs.......
"Maybe this amount includes her full time job and income assistance?"- That seems like a stretch. $8.00 an hour 40 hours a week. $320.00 a week. $1280 a month - not much of a stretch.
Remember - I WAS on food stamps and WiC, that is why I know that there is always a way.
It isn't always some tragic incident, Some people ARE just laze, Some people ARe just unmotivated, SOme people DO just prefer to buy the air jordans and stock up on hot dogs and cheese puffs. Some people DO fake disability and leech the system. Not everybody ... but Probably half. Why do we always try to come up with excuses? Is this a healthy way to improve society?
"Maybe she is disabled. ?" - A- then she is eligible for disability - they said income assistance, how do you know it isn't disability?
"Maybe she has a child that is disabled and cannot afford full time care. " -A - My sister i low income with a disabled child and she cannot afford full time care, there are programs to assist families in that - they still would be considered poverty level and wouldn't the program include some type of social program anyways (tax payer money)
Maybe she is unemployed temporarily.- *key word.. temporarily. - How do you know this mother isn't in a temporary situation?
"Maybe her husband just died and she was a stay at home mom" - I have a friend who was in that situation a well, and she receiving additional aid, and I don't even believe it was social security because he was not a legal resident of the country. - Do you know how much Social Security survivor benefits pay? Not much! My mother in law's live in boyfriend died suddenly, she received NOTHING from the government when he died, they weren't married.
"Maybe her husband left her"- A- Who says you need a husband to be successful? I don't think the woman activists would appreciate that comment. I didn't say she needed a husband to be successful, Maybe she was a stay at home mom and he recently left and she si trying to get back on her feet.
"Maybe her husband was abusive and she decided to leave him." - The same sister who has a disabled child also left an abusive x , she went to the woman's shelter .. they exist to get abused women on their feet. And usually its through income assistance programs.......
"Maybe this amount includes her full time job and income assistance?"- That seems like a stretch. $8.00 an hour 40 hours a week. $320.00 a week. $1280 a month - not much of a stretch.
I was on food stamps and WIC once too for 6 months. Some people ARE lazy and some ARE unmotivated, but saying "why doesn't she get a job" does not fix the solution when you dont know what "her" story is. Maybe she's been on benefits for 1 month...you dont know!0 -
Agreed. I was in a supermarket on my lunch break a few months ago. This store has an amazing food bar. Of course you pay by weight and it can get quite expensive. A couple in front of me paid 40.00 for their food with an EBT card.. I had nothing else to say. My mother could have gotten groceries for the week with that. But unfortunately we didn't qualify for Food stamps when I was a kid since she wouldn't quit her retail job to qualify.I know plenty of people who get food stamps and they have a hell of a lot more options that I do as I actually have to pay for my food. If they chose to they could buy fruits, vegetables, lean meats, etc but usually choose not to. Besides getting food stamps if they have kids under 5 they get WIC (fruit, veg, beans, juice, milk FREE) in addition to their stamps their kids get free lunch at school. Please don't try and blame this on anything other than personal responsibility. People get every opportunity to make good decisions
My government professor told us a story once about when he was in the grocery store and this lady was complaining about not having enough food stamps to feed her and her kids for the month... what did she have in her basket? Steaks, produce that wasn't on sale, and other high ticket items... he took her back and taught her how to shop to make it last longer and to have more meals with it.
That was noble of him. Maybe I'm naïve, but why would one need to be taught how to shop? I'm not being funny. But you have 4 kids, your budget is say 100.00. why would a person buy the most expensive meat? Doesn't the human need to survive kick in? I know for me. If I have a certain amount to spend on food I make it last. I buy off brand when I need to and named brand when I can. Its all a matter of finding the best bargain. I bet when these same folks who say they don't know how to shop, hit the mall, they know how to find a bargain. I'm sure they are shopping on the clearance rack..
While you or I may have common sense about shopping (I rarely buy steaks and when I do it better be on sale or a very special occasion). But some people just don't know how to shop. They see what they want and they get it. I don't think many people are taught to budget these days. I have seen people with the unmistakable Lone Star card (Texas' TANF card) buying things like brie. Or they just don't think they have enough time to do it and thus don't make the time. I shop at 2 grocery stores when I go... why? Because I know it's the best way to stretch my dollar.. Around here I could stretch my dollar even farther buy shopping at Aldi or Kroger (I just don't because I don't like Kroger very well, it's always super crowded and dirty here... and Aldi, I'm not a fan of their foods but if it came down to it, I would suck it up and shop there if it meant having nutritious food for my family).0 -
Is everyone saying that the people here who are obese are lazy?
I didn't see anything that was remotely close to that.0 -
I will probably be bashed for this... HOWEVER, I'm putting it out there anyway.
I agree with you 110% and have thought for a very long time, that we need to find a way to help the people we have living here in our own country, and slow down on helping the other countries. Part of the reason we are falling apart as a country is because we have stopped looking inside and taking care of our own. We MUST fix the things that are broken here before we can go to other countries and fix what is broken.
When we were a stronger country, helping others was vitally important, but in doing so we have lost sight of our own countries needs! I find it extremely sad.
Ok, I'm going to get off of my soap box, because I could go on forever with this :sad:
No bashing from me, well said and I agree with you 200%!!
I agree as well!0 -
"Maybe she is disabled. ?" - A- then she is eligible for disability - they said income assistance, how do you know it isn't disability?I recently went to a talk about food security. Basically, it talked about the ability of people living at or below the poverty level, and their ability to feed themselves and their families. Basically what it came down to is this: if a single mother with two kids is on income assistance, she receives $1124 a month.
Now by my calculations:
Monthly income: $1124
Rent: $ 700
Basic telephone/cable: $ 65
Electricity: $ 40
Bus passes $ 122
So that leaves Mom with $197 a month to feed herself and her two kids. That's $49.25 a week, or $7.04 a day.
Where I live, 4 liters of milk costs $7.49. A 2 liter of pop is $1.49. A loaf of bread costs $2.29. A box of Kraft dinner is $1.09.
In this lecture, they talked about the "basic food basket" which is the food that one would need to buy to follow Canada's food guide for healthy eating. The cost in our community to meet those basic requirements was over $80/week for this hypothetical mother and her two kids.
If a parent is trying to feed herself and her kids on less than $50 a week, of course they are going to eat a lot of boxed meals.
Another issue addressed was the fact that in the cycle of poverty, a lot of times parents just don't know or have the skills to prepare healthful meals, so even though you might be able to cook a healthy stew for $15 that would feed them for three days, Mom might not have the skills or the tools available.
So my point, after this rather long post, is that I do agree, poverty certainly plays a role.
Why isn't this mom getting a job, instead?
It's amazing that everyone thinks its just so easy.
Maybe she is disabled.
Maybe she has a child that is disabled and cannot afford full time care.
Maybe she is unemployed temporarily.
Maybe her husband just died and she was a stay at home mom.
Maybe her husband left her.
Maybe her husband was abusive and she decided to leave him.
Maybe this amount includes her full time job and income assistance?
What the hell difference does it make?
"Maybe she has a child that is disabled and cannot afford full time care. " -A - My sister i low income with a disabled child and she cannot afford full time care, there are programs to assist families in that - they still would be considered poverty level. Maybe she is unemployed temporarily.- *key word.. temporarily. - How do you know this mother isn't in a temporary situation?
"Maybe her husband just died and she was a stay at home mom" - I have a friend who was in that situation a well, and she receiving additional aid, and I don't even believe it was social security because he was not a legal resident of the country. - Do you know how much Social Security survivor benefits pay? Not much!
"Maybe her husband left her"- A- Who says you need a husband to be successful? I don't think the woman activists would appreciate that comment. I didn't say she needed a husband to be successful, Maybe she was a stay at home mom and he recently left and she si trying to get back on her feet.
"Maybe her husband was abusive and she decided to leave him." - The same sister who has a disabled child also left an abusive x , she went to the woman's shelter .. they exist to get abused women on their feet. And usually its through income assistance programs.......
"Maybe this amount includes her full time job and income assistance?"- That seems like a stretch. $8.00 an hour 40 hours a week. $320.00 a week. $1280 a month - not much of a stretch.
Remember - I WAS on food stamps and WiC, that is why I know that there is always a way.
It isn't always some tragic incident, Some people ARE just laze, Some people ARe just unmotivated, SOme people DO just prefer to buy the air jordans and stock up on hot dogs and cheese puffs. Some people DO fake disability and leech the system. Not everybody ... but Probably half. Why do we always try to come up with excuses? Is this a healthy way to improve society?
"Maybe she is disabled. ?" - A- then she is eligible for disability - they said income assistance, how do you know it isn't disability?
"Maybe she has a child that is disabled and cannot afford full time care. " -A - My sister i low income with a disabled child and she cannot afford full time care, there are programs to assist families in that - they still would be considered poverty level and wouldn't the program include some type of social program anyways (tax payer money)
Maybe she is unemployed temporarily.- *key word.. temporarily. - How do you know this mother isn't in a temporary situation?
"Maybe her husband just died and she was a stay at home mom" - I have a friend who was in that situation a well, and she receiving additional aid, and I don't even believe it was social security because he was not a legal resident of the country. - Do you know how much Social Security survivor benefits pay? Not much! My mother in law's live in boyfriend died suddenly, she received NOTHING from the government when he died, they weren't married.
"Maybe her husband left her"- A- Who says you need a husband to be successful? I don't think the woman activists would appreciate that comment. I didn't say she needed a husband to be successful, Maybe she was a stay at home mom and he recently left and she si trying to get back on her feet.
"Maybe her husband was abusive and she decided to leave him." - The same sister who has a disabled child also left an abusive x , she went to the woman's shelter .. they exist to get abused women on their feet. And usually its through income assistance programs.......
"Maybe this amount includes her full time job and income assistance?"- That seems like a stretch. $8.00 an hour 40 hours a week. $320.00 a week. $1280 a month - not much of a stretch.
I was on food stamps and WIC once too for 6 months. Some people ARE lazy and some ARE unmotivated, but saying "why doesn't she get a job" does not fix the solution when you dont know what "her" story is. Maybe she's been on benefits for 1 month...you dont know!
I didn't say "why doesn't she get a job" (she was quoting somebody else) , My response was to her handing out excuses. We all know that there are programs everywhere to help people in most of these cases.0 -
You logic is faulty. Junk food is cheaper per calorie. Sure. But don't we all know that it's too many calories that make you fat? Isn't that why we're all here - on a calorie counting site?
If people living on junk food just ate less of it, they'd not be obese. Skip the soda. Have a filet-o-fish instead of a double quarter pounder with cheese. Have small fries instead of large. And then don't spend your entire evening sat on the couch eating snack food. A little impulse control goes a long way.
Even if you can't afford to eat anything but McDonalds morning, noon and night, you can still moderate your calorie intake and not get fat.
Unless someone is holding you down and force feeding you, you can't absolve yourself of responsibility for your diet.0 -
You logic is faulty. Junk food is cheaper per calorie. Sure. But don't we all know that it's too many calories that make you fat? Isn't that why we're all here - on a calorie counting site?
If people living on junk food just ate less of it, they'd not be obese. Skip the soda. Have a filet-o-fish instead of a double quarter pounder with cheese. Have small fries instead of large. And then don't spend your entire evening sat on the couch eating snack food. A little impulse control goes a long way.
Even if you can't afford to eat anything but McDonalds morning, noon and night, you can still moderate your calorie intake and not get fat.
Unless someone is holding you down and force feeding you, you can't absolve yourself of responsibility for your diet.
/Thread0 -
Well, I have a budget of $200/month to feed 2 mouths in my household. That's roughly $3/day each person. However, I am able to go to the store and buy meats, eggs, dairy, veggies, fruits, produce, juice, etc. and can feed us.
I agree with those who say it depends on if you can cook. There are quite a few meals I can make on that kind of a budget that lasts us quite a while. There are also other factors that play into this, though. One is if the members of the household are willing to eat fresh foods. Some people either refuse to eat fresh fruits and veggies or don't buy them because it cuts into the convenience of having already-prepared side dishes on hand. Another is if the grocery shopper of the house plans ahead. I always take a day before I go to the grocery store and look online at sales ads. One should always do this and make a list because it's better to go prepared and know what you are paying.
I could go on, and on, but it would be waaay too much to read lol...0 -
You logic is faulty. Junk food is cheaper per calorie. Sure. But don't we all know that it's too many calories that make you fat? Isn't that why we're all here - on a calorie counting site?
If people living on junk food just ate less of it, they'd not be obese. Skip the soda. Have a filet-o-fish instead of a double quarter pounder with cheese. Have small fries instead of large. And then don't spend your entire evening sat on the couch eating snack food. A little impulse control goes a long way.
Even if you can't afford to eat anything but McDonalds morning, noon and night, you can still moderate your calorie intake and not get fat.
Unless someone is holding you down and force feeding you, you can't absolve yourself of responsibility for your diet.
This is true and if you look at VERY poverty stricken countries, their children are literally starving to death....not obese.0 -
I recently went to a talk about food security. Basically, it talked about the ability of people living at or below the poverty level, and their ability to feed themselves and their families. Basically what it came down to is this: if a single mother with two kids is on income assistance, she receives $1124 a month.
Now by my calculations:
Monthly income: $1124
Rent: $ 700
Basic telephone/cable: $ 65
Electricity: $ 40
Bus passes $ 122
So that leaves Mom with $197 a month to feed herself and her two kids. That's $49.25 a week, or $7.04 a day.
Where I live, 4 liters of milk costs $7.49. A 2 liter of pop is $1.49. A loaf of bread costs $2.29. A box of Kraft dinner is $1.09.
In this lecture, they talked about the "basic food basket" which is the food that one would need to buy to follow Canada's food guide for healthy eating. The cost in our community to meet those basic requirements was over $80/week for this hypothetical mother and her two kids.
If a parent is trying to feed herself and her kids on less than $50 a week, of course they are going to eat a lot of boxed meals.
Another issue addressed was the fact that in the cycle of poverty, a lot of times parents just don't know or have the skills to prepare healthful meals, so even though you might be able to cook a healthy stew for $15 that would feed them for three days, Mom might not have the skills or the tools available.
So my point, after this rather long post, is that I do agree, poverty certainly plays a role.
Why isn't this mom getting a job, instead?
Seriously! That's 90% of the problem. If people worked they wouldn't have to live in such extreme poverty. The problem is people don't want to work. They would rather do nothing and collect a check from the government. I have spent the last seven years raising my son alone without any child support or government help and we eat healthy real food. How do we do it? I work hard and a lot. I took jobs that most people wouldn't want to do.0 -
There are so many factors that can go into obesity and poverty being correlated. There's a remarkable article about junk food and how its prevalence changes our expectations for food taste by aiming for a 'bliss point' (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) and if we have too many kids eating like this, it is going to completely skew how they grow up and eat.
There's also Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs -- you have to remember that if you're having trouble making ends meet, it can be almost impossible to look farther ahead. It's easy for us to sit here in relative comfort and make proclamations about them having to 'bootstrap' it up and such, and it's definitely good advice to pick yourself up, educate yourself, make better choices, etc. But the theory goes that if you don't have that basic bottom of the pyramid met, it's going to be virtually impossible for most people (there are always exceptions) to start looking at climbing up. That is where society and community come in -- that's where we need to have programs, in my opinion, that continue to help.
What we need though are also programs that aren't kowtowing to politicized machinations selling poor nutrition in the guise of proper nutrition.
When you're broke, fresh foods are often too difficult (or at least it seems that way) -- first of all, they can be harder to find in good quality where they live; secondly, they are perishable and not using them quickly can lead to waste which they cannot afford; thirdly, they take time to prepare. If you're working 2+ jobs or 1 job with long, hard hours, it may be difficult to go to the store multiple times a week to keep getting fresh food (getting it all at once may work but may not - it may go bad), it also may be difficult to find the energy to cook and prepare. Often education level is linked to poverty (often, not always), so if you're coming from a more ignorant standpoint (I use ignorant in its true meaning. It does not equal stupid -- it means you do not know) on a topic such as good food choices, how to make an easy meal, etc. it can feel overwhelming to get the knowledge needed. It's easier to get something pre-packaged that won't go bad, that can be stocked up on every time there's a major sale, etc.
It is a hard, hard problem with not too many easy solutions. At its heart though, I think we need to care about it as a society and be willing to work toward improving for everyone, and if we all go into it with that in mind, we can make a difference and reverse this trend.0 -
Let's take a look at Mississippi. It's the #1 poorest state in the nation. It's also the #1 most obese state in the nation. It's also the #1 most hunger stricken state in the nation. How could that be? How can people be starving AND obese!? It doesn't make sense.
I don't want to read through all 6 pages, but The answer lies in cheap food. You look at a $3 value meal from McDonalds, and One measly double cheeseburger with small fries and a coke is almost a thousand calories..
Compare that to nutritious foods, high volume, low calorie foods like steamed vegetables and baked chicken.. You can get VERY full for an entire day off of nutritious, low cal foods and eat at an acceptable calorie level.
A double cheese with fries isn't that filling, and if you have another value meal a few hours later, you've hit your calorie goals for the day, before you've even eaten twice for the day. THAT'S how you can be starving AND obese.
Part of me thinks that friers should be outlawed, It's a reversion to mediocrity. When you think about the skill it takes to properly cook meat to temperature without OVERCOOKING it and turning it into dry rubber, it's hard to find people who are skilled enough or who are intelligent enough to be trained how to cook properly.
Compare that to a deep fat frier, and you take frozen bits of whatever and you drop it in hot oil for a set amount of time. All you have to do is be able to count. You can sort of see why it's more cost effective to employ a person who doesn't care about their job, who has no ambition, pay them minimum wage, and have them work the frier, like a robot.
It's cheaper. You'd go broke trying to cook decent food in a fast food setting. The one aberration is sandwich shops like subway. They have made sandwich craft a simple task for less motivated, unambitious workers, and since it doesn't go in a frier, all the meat is microwaved with the push of a preset setting for each type of meat, it's hard to screw up and has MUCH less calories.0 -
Obesity is a matter of too many calories and not enough exercise. Poverty is not going to cause that. Yes, there is a correlation between poverty and obesity in some countries, but that doesn't equal causation.
I'd put my money on a lack of self control (which all children naturally have), combined with parents who either don't care, or who lack the ability to say "no" to their children, along with the parents modeling poor eating behavior.
Yes!! This exactly0 -
I was reading through the thread about who is to blame for obese children. The unanimous consensus is that it's the parents' fault. While I agree to a certain extent, I think people are forgetting a few key pieces of info. Let's take a look at Mississippi. It's the #1 poorest state in the nation. It's also the #1 most obese state in the nation. It's also the #1 most hunger stricken state in the nation. How could that be? How can people be starving AND obese!? It doesn't make sense. Or does it?
If you go to the grocery and buy enough fresh, whole food to feed a family of four for a week, you'll likely spend no less than $200. Good, fresh, real food is terribly expensive. Crap food is not! A cheeseburger, fries, and coke at McDonalds cost $3. A salad at McDonalds cost $6. Fresh produce and meat is expensive compared to ramen noodles and Vienna sausages. It's next to impossible for people living in poverty to eat healthy food!
I don't know how to fix that, but I know that something needs to change if we're going to solve the obesity epidemic in this country!
You don't seem to realize that even if you do have to spend $200 on healthy groceries (patently false, by the way, we feed our family of three for less than that PER MONTH) the $200 goes to making multiple healthy meals, that fill you up and keep you full for much longer. Yes, going to McDonald's and buying burger fries and Coke is pretty cheap at just $3, but it's only ONE meal, and since it has such a high glycemic index and is so full of fillers, stripped white flour, preservatives and multiple forms of sugar, the kids will be hungrier faster, which only forces you to buy MORE crap food more often, which in turn costs more money.
Shop smart (we do Bountiful Baskets) buy produce that's in season, look for deals on Manager's Special, and use coupons. You will be surprised at how inexpensive it can be if you do it right.0 -
I will probably be bashed for this... HOWEVER, I'm putting it out there anyway.
I agree with you 110% and have thought for a very long time, that we need to find a way to help the people we have living here in our own country, and slow down on helping the other countries. Part of the reason we are falling apart as a country is because we have stopped looking inside and taking care of our own. We MUST fix the things that are broken here before we can go to other countries and fix what is broken.
When we were a stronger country, helping others was vitally important, but in doing so we have lost sight of our own countries needs! I find it extremely sad.
Ok, I'm going to get off of my soap box, because I could go on forever with this :sad:
YES!!! This is SO true!!
We have people in our own country starving, and without homes and good educations, but we are spending trillions of dollars to help other countries feed their people and educate them. We do need to look at our own community first... I hope our children learn from our mistakes...0 -
I didn't say "why doesn't she get a job" (she was quoting somebody else) , My response was to her handing out excuses. We all know that there are programs everywhere to help people in most of these cases.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to get approved for these programs. I used to get a family first card and I only got 90$ A MONTH for food.
I've been underemployed since 2009. Places are running out of help to give.0 -
stop making EXCUSES and start making RESULTS. you are who YOU WANT TO BE. correlate that. slackers
This sounds like an infomercial, and makes my brain so sad. :sad:
Back to the topic at hand though. This is an excellent thread! Good Job OP!
I worry about some of the posters here that are oversimplifying a very complex problem. Yes, it is easy to find cheep healthy food to feed a family on a budget, but not everywhere and only if you know what you are looking for. Some places just don't have the resources to access all this great food you are talking about. That doesn't get the parents off the hook for filling their shopping carts with garbage though. I understand what it is like to simply not know how to provide healthy food for your family, so you buy what you know they like instead. Shocking as this may sound, I wasn't born knowing how to shop and cook. I had to learn, and it is tough when you are working long hours and come home physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. There is a lot of conflicting language out there that is designed to make you feel good about purchasing products that are processed and full of sugar/fat. I think increasing education, for both parents and children who are on assistance, about shopping and cooking techniques is a big step to finding a solution.0 -
Very concise.I have never been obese nor have I lived in poverty. I don't think I have any right to speculate on something I have only ever read about.
It's an interesting topic, but I think the key to finding a solution is to ask the people who live this way why they are unable to cook nutritious meals. Is it a lack of readily available ingredients? Is it lack of knowing how to prepare healthy foods? Is it because they actually DO think they are making healthy meals?
As for exercise, perhaps one reason why they are obese is that they are reluctant to go out in their neighbourhood, unless they have to, because they are afraid.
All too often, people make decision for others without ever actually understanding what they need to help them with.0 -
You logic is faulty. Junk food is cheaper per calorie. Sure. But don't we all know that it's too many calories that make you fat? Isn't that why we're all here - on a calorie counting site?
If people living on junk food just ate less of it, they'd not be obese. Skip the soda. Have a filet-o-fish instead of a double quarter pounder with cheese. Have small fries instead of large. And then don't spend your entire evening sat on the couch eating snack food. A little impulse control goes a long way.
Even if you can't afford to eat anything but McDonalds morning, noon and night, you can still moderate your calorie intake and not get fat.
Unless someone is holding you down and force feeding you, you can't absolve yourself of responsibility for your diet.
Amen!
It doesn't cost anything to take a walk. If your budget is tight, eating less in general is going to help with that. Of course this could be that the people I see, like me, with weight issues are not people living at the poverty level, but rather middle class level with enough money to pay for an SUV, take vacations to Hawaii, have premium cable and go out to eat on a regular basis. I'm sorry but if you can afford Showtime and HBO and trips to Disneyland, then you can afford to eat healthier.
I go to the 99 Cent Store regularly to help my food budget and while there is a lot of cheap junk food there, I can also get tuna (canned in water), whole wheat pita bread, lettuce, spinach, mangoes, tomatoes, bananas, apples, oranges, carrot sticks, sweet potatoes, spinach, frozen veggies, low cal dressing, salsa, potatoes, eggs, skim milk, whole wheat pasta, pasta sauce, string cheese, peanut butter, oatmeal, raisins, bottled water, Crystal Light packets for my water, trail mix as well as plastic ware containers to carry my food to work for lunch, plus purchasing dry goods like toilet paper, paper towels, sandwich bags, garbage bag, laundry and dish detergent, kitchen utensils and the like to allow me more money for expensive items like chicken and fresh fish at a regular grocery store. (I know some people get nervous getting produce from there because it doesn't look pretty. But having grown up with veggies growing in my backyard, I can tell you most of it doesn't look pretty. Regular stores just pick the iced looking ones and then leave the rest for stores like this one.)
Yes, some people lack the education to pick the ideal foods, but with free apps like this one around, there's no reason to not at least eat the right amount of calories to lose weight. Cost only comes in when dealing with the quality of those calories, but for purely weight loss reasons, it doesn't matter where the calories come from, just how many you consume.0 -
I am a blessed poor married mother of 6. I am blessed because I have a huge garden and yard. At the end of the summer I can and freeze everything. I spent the money to buy fruit trees and berry bushes. I grow all organic. Doing this has saved me $1000's for the couple of hundred I spent on the trees. I have 2 apple trees, 3 cherries, this year I am adding pears and plums. I also have elderberries, red white pink and black currents, strawberries, red and yellow raspberries gooseberries and 3 huge rhubarbs. In the garden I grow every year corn, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, pumpkins and okra. I then start all the herbs I can grow here in Minnesota which are basil, oregano, fennel, cilantro, thyme, mints garlic and lavender. So I don't have to spend on fresh fruits and veggies for 90% of the year. We buy 1 cow 2 hogs and about 50 chickens a year from a local farmer. I do all of this and some years we have been down to 12,500 a year and not 1 of my kids have ever missed a meal and we have a family of 8.
The problem is that we have gotten away from the basics. Nobody has a clue where their food is coming from and they aren't educated enough to know to care. If you are given food stamps you can go to the store and buy what you want. That includes pop candy, boxed meals. They walk past the produce isle and go straight for the chips and cookies. The best thing they could do is limit what people can buy. It's time to say no you can't buy anything prepared. Just because you have to take it home and toss it in the microwave or the oven means no you can't buy it. Wonder why you run out of money on your EBT card at the end of the month? It's because you went to the gas station and bought a 4 dollar burrito every day, or a $10 take and bake pizza a couple of times a week. That money goes way faster than it should. My sister in-law gets food stamps about $ 1000.00 and runs through them in a weeks because of what she buys.
People in HUD housing have to pay $150 to start a garden that is only 10x10. Funny part is you could grow $1000 worth of food in that every year.Which would save the government money in food stamps and medcaid in the health benifits. Because they would be outside working and eating better food.
The problem is lack of education about nutrition, availablity of chemical laden processed prepackage crap, instead of real food!0 -
when I was in Morroco, I was surprised by how much cheaper it was to eat healthy than to eat fast food. this was during the Arab spring when morrocans were peacefully demonstrating against there king. I came back thinking well maybe there is a correlation but not really, it just take more effort to eat healthy here and sometimes hard when you're trying to make ends meet. mass production and automation won't make it any easier but eating healthy even when you're poor can be done. anything is possible just takes more planning.0
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I didn't say "why doesn't she get a job" (she was quoting somebody else) , My response was to her handing out excuses. We all know that there are programs everywhere to help people in most of these cases.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to get approved for these programs. I used to get a family first card and I only got 90$ A MONTH for food.
I've been underemployed since 2009. Places are running out of help to give.
As I said- I have been there. If you only get approved for $90 per month, clearly they didn't think your income proved you to need more. When I was on those programs we were offered MORE programs but we didn't take them because we didn't want to take more than we thought we needed.0 -
They don't have to use it all at one time. In fact any unused money goes to the next month.I work with a very poor community and the problem I see is that at the first of the month they have so much money in food stamps. Now to feed a family of 4 they have to budget that money to last the month, so say they live in a small apartment with only limited food storage. They can buy a few pieces of bulk food and fresh meats and produce. This has to last the month. It's not prudent to spend your EBT money on produce that could rot quickly. You can buy shelf stable food and know that it will last the month. Milk will spoil quickly, so it's easier to buy juice and soda. You could buy sweet potatoes, but those will rot if not used right away potato chips last forever.
Theres so many factors as to why we are seeing obesity with poverty including manufacturers targeting the lower income. This is not only a problem in America. Many emerging post-colonial countries are also seeing a section of their poor population now obese.
You could get a PhD studying this.0 -
Lets Keep in mind- the topic is not "are poor people lazy" the topic is "Obesity and Poverty" - Regardless of the reasons for poverty is poverty a reason to be obese? No.. but it's a great excuse.0
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I completely agree with you. It's much harder for poor families to buy healthy, good-quality food. I went through this myself.0
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Part of the other problem is cooking skills. Great a bag of chickpeas is cheap, but if you don't know what to do with them what good are they?? People aren't taught how to COOK nutritious meals these days. Kale, another super yummy and nutritious food, but again...if you don't have a clue how to prepare it in a way that you and your family would enjoy...it would just go to waste.
I couldn't agree more - there are a lot of cheap healthy food out there but, if you don't know how to prepare it, or your family won't eat it you're wasting your money.0 -
I live in an impoverished area in the foothills of East Tennessee. There are folks selling produce every mile down the road and a farmers market in every community. That's the way a lot of people make $. There are 5 walmarts within 20 miles of my house and two amish stores on the way home. The amish stores carry bulk items too.
I can't speak for inner city areas but this is what we have out in the country.While i agree with you to an extent i'll also argue that yes you can feed a family of 4 for less than $200 a week. My Weekly grocery budget is 1/2 of that! I buy in bulk and also shop seasonal fruits and veggies. I also shop at farmers markets and a little amish shop that is in my neighborhood. Its not just what they are eating, but the quantity.
Are there a lot of bulk grocers, farmers markets and amish shops in inner cities or in impoverished rural areas in the Deep South or Appalachia?0 -
Agreed. I was in a supermarket on my lunch break a few months ago. This store has an amazing food bar. Of course you pay by weight and it can get quite expensive. A couple in front of me paid 40.00 for their food with an EBT card.. I had nothing else to say. My mother could have gotten groceries for the week with that. But unfortunately we didn't qualify for Food stamps when I was a kid since she wouldn't quit her retail job to qualify.I know plenty of people who get food stamps and they have a hell of a lot more options that I do as I actually have to pay for my food. If they chose to they could buy fruits, vegetables, lean meats, etc but usually choose not to. Besides getting food stamps if they have kids under 5 they get WIC (fruit, veg, beans, juice, milk FREE) in addition to their stamps their kids get free lunch at school. Please don't try and blame this on anything other than personal responsibility. People get every opportunity to make good decisions
My government professor told us a story once about when he was in the grocery store and this lady was complaining about not having enough food stamps to feed her and her kids for the month... what did she have in her basket? Steaks, produce that wasn't on sale, and other high ticket items... he took her back and taught her how to shop to make it last longer and to have more meals with it.
That was noble of him. Maybe I'm naïve, but why would one need to be taught how to shop? I'm not being funny. But you have 4 kids, your budget is say 100.00. why would a person buy the most expensive meat? Doesn't the human need to survive kick in? I know for me. If I have a certain amount to spend on food I make it last. I buy off brand when I need to and named brand when I can. Its all a matter of finding the best bargain. I bet when these same folks who say they don't know how to shop, hit the mall, they know how to find a bargain. I'm sure they are shopping on the clearance rack..
Because people aren't held accountable for their decisions any more. There is no thought of consequences for actions. We live in a country of entitlement where the less you do the more you get. Of course there are people who use the system to get ahead but there seem to be far more who manipulate it to get more more more. I've seen it first hand by family members and "friends" and every single person I know on assistance takes advantage of it.0
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